Spinners have a field day

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

greater noida, August 25

Before the start of the Duleep Trophy, India's veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was concerned about how spinners would adjust to a pink kookaburra ball under lights. The Duleep Trophy was expected to usher in a new era in Indian cricket and Harbhajan was very much against the experiment as he felt "it's going to be a nightmare for the spinners".

His sentiments were shared by Australian spinners Nathan Lyon and Stephen O'Keefe - they thought the pink ball wouldn't last in the Sub-continental conditions. But after watching chinaman Kuldeep Yadav and leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal picking up five-wicket hauls and making the ball drift in the air and turn off the wicket, the concerned Harbhajan and other spinners would have heaved a sigh of relief. Although the pink ball is hard to grip and it tends to slip from the hand, Yadav and Gopal adjusted to the challenge in a rather emphatic manner. The spinners have to rely a lot on the drift and dip, and pitching the ball in the rough to get the turn. That's exactly what the duo did. The impressive performance by India Red's Yadav and India Green's Gopal would help allay the pink ball fear among the spinners to a large extent. 

After the pacers called the shots on the opening day and the batsmen sent fielders on a leather hunt on the second day of the day/night fixture, the spinners came into their own on the third day. At the end of the third day's play, Yadav had India Green on the ropes with his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. Chasing 497 for victory, India Green, skippered by Suresh Raina, were 217/7 in 46 overs, still 280 runs adrift with just three wickets in hand. While Raina was batting on 42, Ashoke Dinda was unbeaten on 10. A win seems improbable for India Green, but Raina would like to take his team as close as possible. Yadav, who had picked up three wickets in the first innings, returned figures of 5/ 55 in 13 overs.  His guile and turn saw India Green losing six wickets in the final session for the addition for 145 runs.

India Green had started the chase in an excellent fashion with Robin Uthappa (72) and Jalaj Saxena (26) putting on a 66-run partnership for the first wicket. Saxena was cleaned up by Ishwar Pandey. Uthappa, who dealt in flashy boundaries, found an able ally in Parthiv Patel (26), keeping their team in the hunt. But when India Red skipper Yuvraj Singh introduced Yadav into the attack, India Green collapsed like a pack of cards. Yadav dismissed Uthappa, Patel (26) and Rajat Paliwal (0) in quick succession to push Indian Green to the brink of defeat. Later, he scalped Saurabh Tiwary (31) and Sandeep Sharma (0) to complete his five-wicket haul.

Earlier, India Red started the day at 344/3, with an overall lead of 354 runs. Dinda got rid of Abhinav Mukund, who could add only seven runs to his overnight score of 162 to finally depart for a well-made 221-ball 169.

The introduction of Gopal triggered a collapse. First, he had Arun Karthik (14) trapped leg before, and then  dismissed Punjab batsman Gurkeerat Singh (82), who was plundering boundaries with delectable cover drives and square cuts. Gopal got Gurkeerat out with a gem-of-a-delivery, which dipped and turn just enough to flummox the batsman before wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel removed the bails. Soon after, Gopal dismissed Akshay Wakhare (0) and Nathu Singh (6) to complete his five-wicket haul. 

Brief scores

India Red: 486 all out (Mukund 169, Mann 82, S Gopal 5/123); 161
India Green: 217/7 (Uthappa 72, Raina 42*, Yadav 5/55); 151